Acer Predator Helios 500 Review

December 4, 2018

Anyone hunting to get a slim, upscale-looking gaming laptop which will do double duty as a transportable work machine has been possessing a fairly good year. The 14-inch Razer Blade, the Asus Zephyrus and genuine toshiba laptop battery pa5024u 1brs other high-design laptops have employed new GPU and CPU technology to place additional gaming energy than ever into slim, light metal bodies using a minimum of over-the-top “gamer” aesthetics.

And then there’s the Acer Predator Helios 500. It really is pretty much the precise opposite of all of these items. This is a massive 17-inch gaming laptop, having a chromed, horned logo, all sorts of multicolored internal lighting and pa5186u 1brs white battery the type of desktop footprint rarely noticed as of late. It is eight.three pounds (3.8 kg), without the massive power brick, and almost two inches thick in the rear.

Why all the extra mass? Mainly because it requires a much distinct approach to laptop gaming than these slimmer models. The Helios 500 skips the small, less-powerful Max-Q versions of microsoft surface 3 charger Nvidia graphics cards found in lots of new gaming laptops, as an alternative such as a full-size GeForce GTX 1070 GPU. It is also the very first gaming laptop (but the third laptop general) we’ve tested with Intel’s new Core i9 processor, that is pitched as a step up from the conventional high-end Core i7. This configuration is $2,499 in the US, even though slightly distinctive configurations might be located within the UK for ?¨º2,499 or AU$2,848 in Australia.

Design

Vents, vents everywhere! The Helios 500 is like a monster attempting to break out of its cage with its beastly tiny hellmouths all along the macbook pro 13 charger 60w sides too as the back, which sports edgy gray outlines along with the most comforting warning label ever: “Hot surface – WARNING – Do not touch.”

The lid is tamer, as the sides are elegantly carved out, whilst the intimidating, blue-and-steel plated Predator logo sits smack within the middle.

The interior captures the spirit of what I could only describe as an azure demon. Blue backlighting bursts via the veins in the island-style keyboard, the badass power button in the leading as well as the sleek touchpad.

The keyboard has fully customizable RGB backlighting, but since the rest of your laptop has blue accents, it just appears wrong with toshiba battery pa3817u 1brs/pa3817u 1brs original toshiba something else. Speaking of wrong, these bezels are specifically chunky, which is disappointing simply because we’ve seen them slimmer on 17-inch Predators in the past.

At eight.three pounds and 16.9 x 11.7 x 1.5 inches, the Helios 500 is the thickest among its titan competitors. The Alienware 17 R5 will be the heavyweight champ, at 9.77 pounds and macbook air charger 45w 1.two inches, as well as the PowerSpec 1710 requires the featherweight crown, at 6.eight pounds and 1 inch thick. The Aorus X9 (2018) is the middleweight contender, at 8.1 pounds and 1.two inches.

Case

Visually, the new Helios 500 is quite different from the Predator 17 G9 save for any few distinguishing capabilities that clearly serve to identify it as a member of Acer’s Predator loved ones. These include things like the highlighted cursor and WASD keys as well as the characteristic power button.

One characteristic conspicuously missing from the Helios 500 is the 17 G9’s protruding rear. Apparently, the cooling technique does not demand this further headroom anymore in spite of possessing to deal with asus charger ad883220/asus ac adapter ad883220 the exact exact same GTX 1070 GPU as on the 17 G9.

Made completely out of plastic, the case is relatively rigid. Nevertheless, it was not as sturdy as we would have anticipated and we were capable to warp it slightly when applying torsional forces to its side. When carrying out so the gaps about the upkeep flaps widened plus the complete case started to creak.

The hinge is not firm sufficient to prevent teetering entirely, as well as the maximum opening angle is 135 degrees. The hinge is definitely not firm sufficient to keep the show securely in location constantly – it even moved when we have been carrying the unit about. Just just like the rest of the case the lid’s rigidity leaves a whole lot to be preferred. It warped pretty effortlessly when we applied opposing forces to its corners and asus ac adapter ad891m21/asus ad891m21 charger bent readily inwards when stress was applied to its surface. Fortunately, the show content didn’t ripple or distort visibly, along with the panel itself seems to be decoupled in the frame.

All factors viewed as, build high quality was equivalent for the Predator 17 G9 and therefore significantly worse than on competing devices including the Asus ROG Chimera G703. It lacks rubberized surfaces for improved grip and microsoft surface pro 4 charger/surface pro 4 docking station easy handling but at the very least the palm rest’s paintwork is somewhat nonslip. The case entirely lacks any kind of aluminum reinforcement or plating.

While its 17-inch predecessor, the GTX 1060-equipped Helios 300, was still comparatively thin (29 mm) the 17-inch Helios 500 can no longer lay claim to any sort of spatial minimalism. Its thickness of 39 mm is owed to its huge cooling option. Acer could have most definitely shaved off an additional 2-3 mm but why bother? The Helios 500 is definitely an upper-class gaming laptop and toshiba satellite l50 b 1nx battery/toshiba pa5186u 1brs battery as such it doesn’t must be either little or thin. Fairly the contrary appears to hold correct: The far more heft and bulk the a lot more performance it will have to be capable of delivering.

Not only are these heavier than the Helios 500, their footprint is also significantly bigger (as much as two.5 cm deeper but not any wider).

GAMER

High-end gaming hardware has trended towards subtle designs as of late, but not everybody wants or demands a sleek, nondescript laptop to play games. Some gamers want a laptop that screams its gaming credentials. Other individuals are fine paying significantly less for any thicker, larger laptop with macbook pro a1278 charger/a1278 macbook charger equivalent (or greater overall performance). What ever the purpose, Predator Helios 500 is certainly reduce from a diverse cloth than numerous of its peers.

This 17-inch laptop has the angular panels, flashing lights, and layers of chrome we’ve come to expect with the Predator brand. It takes a cautious eye to distinguish the Helios 500 from the likes of your Predator 17, 17X and Helios 300. You will find a couple of smaller variations between the models, however the essential to decoding Acer’s messy glut of brands and names is always to know that the Helios laptops would be the only models which happen to be updated in 2018 so far.

That mentioned, we just like the admittedly compact adjustments Acer has produced for the Helios 500. The red LEDs have been replaced by blue, and hp spare 800049 001/hp battery 800049 001 silver has been (virtually) totally removed in the chassis. Would we choose a significantly less ostentatious logo, smaller sized bezels, and sleeker panels? Absolutely. The Predator Helios 500 is not a looker. Nevertheless, for all those who want a in-your-face gaming laptop, the Helios 500 fits the bill.

Similarly, the Helios 500 doesn’t pretend to be thin or light in any sense in the word. Weighing in at eight.eight pounds, do not expect to throw this inside your backpack and asus charger ad883220/asus ac adapter ad883220 not notice. When compared with the competitors although, it’s really a bit lighter than the Alienware 17, the king of bulk.

The Helios 500 measures in at 1.five inches tall with the lid closed, which is thicker than two Razer Blades stacked up. In other words, the Helios 500 is not transportable inside the slightest, so appear elsewhere if portability is actually a deciding factor for you. The great news is that in case you do have to lug it about, you are able to pretty much assure it’ll handle the transportation because of its bulky chassis. We did notice some flex in bend in the lid, but all the things is as sturdy as a $2,500 laptop really should be.

Performance

Core i9 never cease for no one. Despite juggling 40 Google Chrome tabs and also a 1080p YouTube video in the background in the course of my Nazi-killing spree in Wolfenstein II, the fans around the lenovo g50 80 battery/original 41wh battery for lenovo g50 80 serie Helios 500 did not even murmur. This rig is out to kill with its overclockable two.9-GHz Intel Core i9-8950HK processor, 16GB of RAM, 512GB SSD, and 2TB 5,400rpm HDD.

The Helios 500’s 512GB SSD copied 4.97GB of multimedia files in 13 seconds, which translates to 391 megabytes per second. It matched the PowerSpec but was somewhat slower than the Aorus (424MBps) and also the 471-MBps category typical. The Alienware’s SSD hit 565 MBps.

On the HandBrake benchmark, the Helios 500 took 9 minutes and 33 seconds to transcode a 4K video to 1080p, that is slightly more quickly than the 9:59 category average. The Alienware (9:ten) along with the Aorus (8:15) turned in strong times, but the PowerSpec fell behind at 14:00.

BATTERY LIFE

The Helios 500 doesn’t make any strides in battery life. As with most gaming laptops, let alone 17-inchers, you will not wish to leave house without the power adapter.

In our testing, the Helios 500 lasted just below five and a half hours in video playback and two hours and asus ad890m26 charger/asus laptop charger ad890m26 eleven minutes in internet browsing. That’s like other gaming laptops, unless you are comparing it for the Razer Blade, which proved a great deal much better. Aspect with the challenge is no doubt the inclusion of G-Sync, which fixes screen tearing, but prevents the laptop from switching GPUs to save battery.

The Predator Helios 500 is usually a compelling mid-range gaming laptop that delivers quickly framerates to justify the high-refresh display. Even though it is not the pa5109u 1brs/toshiba battery pa5109u 1brs most extravagant, and undoubtedly not by far the most portable, the Predator Helios 500 sits at excellent balance of worth and overall performance. It’s the 17-inch gaming laptop to beat.